Disable These Gboard Settings to Protect Your Privacy.
Gboard is the default keyboard on many Android devices, including the Google Pixel, and has been downloaded over 10 billion times from the Google Play Store, making it a widely used and trusted typing tool. It offers many useful features (some of which require an internet connection), but also has a few drawbacks, including some privacy concerns. While these issues may not make you ditch Gboard entirely, you should be aware of what data it collects, where that information goes, and how to keep your data secure.
Gboard’s privacy issues
Many Gboard users have expressed concerns about the keyboard recording their input and transmitting it to Google. A report from Android Police states that Gboard activity could potentially be intercepted, decrypted, and directly linked to users’ identities.
According to the data security policy listed on Gboard’s Google Play Store page, the keyboard may collect various data, including device identifiers, app activity (such as installed apps, in-app search history, and app interactions), voice or audio recordings, and diagnostic and performance data. Google states that it does not share this data with third parties, but users also cannot request deletion of their data.
Google’s support page states that Gboard sends search queries, usage statistics, and speech-to-text recordings to Google, although saved words and anything else you type (such as passwords or chat messages) are not shared. However, Google may use your data to train its AI models on the device —a process called federated learning—and send this information back to its servers. It may also request access to your audio samples to improve speech recognition.
You can opt out of sharing data through Gboard.
Again, you may not need to ditch Gboard entirely, but you can be more selective about what it sends to Google. First, you can disable federated learning (which is enabled by default) and clear all device data to prevent it from being used for AI training. Go to Android Settings > System > Language & Input > On-Screen Keyboard > Gboard > Privacy and select “Delete Learned Words and Data.” If you believe you may have enabled audio sharing, tap “Settings” > “Privacy” at the top of the keyboard and disable “Audio Donations.”
In Settings > Privacy in Gboard, you can also turn off usage sharing, personalization, and data collection in the “Improve for everyone” mode, which sends word and phrase patterns to Google servers.
Privacy-conscious users may want to consider alternatives to Gboard, such as HeliBoard , which works offline, is free, and open-source, or FUTO , which also works offline and doesn’t collect or share user data. Of course, these tools will have their limitations compared to Gboard’s capabilities.